I don't know why I am drawn to the old cheesy B horror flicks, but I am. So, I am stuck in Cleveland in a hotel for work and I started watching The Earth Vs. THE SPIDER! There was a 32 hiboy roadster in it that was pretty slick. I'll se if I can post pics of it. Anyone else watch these old cheese ball movies?
I've posted here before on that subject. I'd wager many of us aging Boomers came home from school, grabbed a snack, and revelled in the after school TV viewing of those awfully cheesy campy American International Sci fi and horror flicks from the 50s. I'm talking about stuff like The Blob ( Steve McQueen in one of his first starring roles ) , The Amazing Colossal Man, Attack of the 50 Ft Woman, The Giant Gila Monster ( killed by a hot rod loaded with nitro ), Invasion of the Saucer Men, I was a Teenage Werewolf, Terror from the Year 2000, the list goes on and on. A personal favorite was Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow...with Tommy Ivo. Truly awful...but entertaining for its campiness. ( Then later came those crappily laughable Beach Movies....)
Oh, old Sci-fi movies! Stupid plots, bad writing, B and C grade actors (very few made it to the big time), predictable as hell, bad animation/costuming. I LOVE 'em! I'll stay up all night to see one!
LOL..."rockets on a string". Reminds me of the earlier Flash Gordon pictures. The ones with the " Strato Sleds "...with sparks shooting out of the rear? Making sounds like an otherworldly buzz saw. Then there's those flicks from the fifties...where a Theremin in heat provides the soundtrack.
In defense of the genre...I have to mention two films that rise above all the rest...aside from the well known "The Day the Earth Stood Still." One is "The Thing ( from another world)"...released in 1951 and based on a classic Sci Fi tale " Who Goes There?" Starring a group of scientists and military men based at a remote arctic outpost...played by soon to be well known B actors of the day....Kenneth Tobey, Dewey Martin,with a young James Arness of "Gunsmoke" fame as the alien. Two of the scientists... Paul Frees became a famous voice over actor...and George Fenneman went on to star as Groucho Marx's sidekick on the popular game show "You Bet Your Life". The films ends on a cautionary note about UFOs..." Watch the Skies"! It was effectively remade in the 80's with Kurt Russell.. The other noteworthy film of the era ( in my book anyway ) is 1954's "Them!"...about radioactive mutant giant ants in the deserts of our nuclear testing grounds. James Whitmore ( no slouch in the acting dept. ) and James Arness team up with two scientists to conceive a battle plan to defeat the creatures...the elderly scientist is played by none other than Edmund Gwenn...who played Kris Kringle in " Miracle on 34th Street" . This one in particular scared the crap out of me late one night in my youth...the sound of the recent Brood X cicada hatch always brings back memories of this great post WWII - Cold War era film. The special effects are of course laughably primitive..but back in the day...of tiny black and white TV screens...effective enough.
They were actually foretelling the future. You have to remember, space travel hadn't even happened yet.
The 32 roadster featured in Earth Vs The Spider is the Pete Henderson/Ralph Guldahl car that has been restored to its Pete Henderson version. Mick
It amazes me the knowledge on this board. Thanks Mick. It looks like it has 3 rows of louvers, which is interesting. After reading your post and searching for pics, it looks like the little roadster had a full oem hood in most of the pics.
Paul Frees was a noted radio actor long before his movie work. He had his own program, "The Green Llama", as well as doing various voices for other programs.
When I was very young I stayed up late and watched The Blob. Had this little kid I was on the edge of the couch. Steve McQueen running around trying to stop this horrible monster. Some cool old cars too. Still like that movie to this day. Brings back childhood memories of scary movies.
Check out 'The Giant Claw'. You might spot a young Clint Eastwood. 'The Creature with the Atom Brain' is kinda cool too. I dig a good creature feature, but I'm more a noir guy, I guess
After "The Amazing Colossal Man" and "The Crawling Eye" all other B movies pale by comparison. My opinion, of course. I do have to give a tip of the hat to Michael Rennie and "The Day The Earth Stood Still". It had a pretty stellar main cast. Theses movies were meant to be seen late night on Fridays and Saturdays. After school I ran home to watch Dick Clark's "Where The Action Is". Glenn Manning, don't jump!
I remember that one. Another laughably bad American International pic...pretty much their standard drive in movie fare from the late 50's. Home made time machine ( looked like a water heater with a window ) in a secluded Florida scientists enclave transports a radioactive mutant woman from a nuclear devastated future back in time to our present where she looks for breeding stock to repair the genetically damaged future human race. Some of the scenes at night were filmed in such darkness you could barely make out what was going on...but the one redeeming feature was the she - monster from the future, played by Salome Jens..who had a somewhat sexy European come hither look about her...at least when she had taken on a disguise to hide her hideously deformed appearance...which was hilariously revealed in the closing shot...crooked teeth and a couple of moles on her face. The Horror! Looked like a bad Prom date.
...and while I'm mentioning dark nightime scenes in the Florida everglades...anybody remember seeing another American International classic... " ( Attack of ) The Giant Leeches"? Starring Yvette Vickers...sort of a Joey Heatherton wanna be . " Rising from the depths of hell...to kill and conquer!"
Immortalized in the Johnny Depp tribute film "Ed Wood"....Martin Landau won the Oscar for his portrayal of the washed up drug addled Bela Lugosi.
Anyone remember the puppet show "Supercar" with Mike Mercury and Doctor Beaker? It was oddly entertaining.
Yea I have seen that one as well. I also have another, Night Of The Blood Beast. Also had old cars here and there.
A very old one that I want to mention here, because of the cars shown is, The BRUTE MAN. Actually a very good movie.
The Giant Gila Monster is a classic , with lots of period Hot Rods. A great movie with lots of Hot Rods racing around. I have watched this movie many many times and still do to this day. Good stuff!
I don’t consider “the day the earth stood still” and “forbidden planet” B movies. Very well done movies. If you ever get a chance to watch Forbidden Planet on the big screen, do it. The old school effects are impressive. You can tell the Star Wars people were influenced.
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